Year In Review | 2011 Highlights: The Real L Word’s Saj Golde

Check out some of ELIXHER’s highlights from 2011! ELIXHER sat down with Saj Golde, star of the hit reality series on Showtime The Real L Word, for an in-depth interview. We also chatted with her girlfriend Chanel about how Black lesbians are depicted on-screen. Here’s a recap!

Want to find out all the juicy details about what really went down on The Real L Word?! Then this interview is not for you. ELIXHER recently sat down with Sajdah Golde, star of the Showtime hit reality series and field organizer with the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center’s Vote for Equality campaign. Whether you loved this season or made a point not to watch it, you’ll want to find out why the 24-year-old North Carolina native is passionate about her job (canvassing neighborhoods that voted for Prop 8), and her thoughts on the media’s portrayal of Black lesbians. Her girlfriend, Chanel Brown, weighs in!

ELIXHER: How did you end up on The Real L Word?SAJ: I signed up. Actually, I had just moved out here and this girl I used to talk was a fan of the show. She saw it first on Facebook and was like, oh, they’re casting, you should apply. I liked her, so I did it. [Laughs.]

ELIXHER: You did it to impress a girl? [Laughs.]SAJ: I did. [Laughs.] It was like Slumdog Millionaire. I knew she watched the show. I was like, let me get on this. I haven’t told many people that story.

ELIXHER: [Laughs.] Was that the only reason you signed up?SAJ: I definitely didn’t want to take the role of representing all things Black because Black people are so multifaceted it’s insane to even expect me to. I really just felt like it was another story to tell. I knew my story was different from the ones I saw. I wanted to offer a different perspective, not just because I was Black. There are a lot of different pieces of my character that are very different from the other castmates.

Also, I work in LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] policies. My favorite episodes are the ones where they show me working because people are able to see what’s going on around the world thirty years from now. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s kids get to see him doing the March on Washington. My kids will get to see this is what my mom was doing 20 – 30 years ago so that I’m not being bullied in school. I appreciate that part of [the show] more than anything else.

ELIXHER: Seeing our own struggles and how we lived is going to strengthen future generations. So thank you for contributing to that.SAJ: Thank you. There’s a lot of stuff that the show does that I’m not 100 percent comfortable with. I don’t want to re-watch me fussing and screaming with my girlfriend. But I do like being able to see those parts of it, so it’s like a give and take.